Improvement in gas-generators



.1. S. WDG D.

Gas Generators.

Patented May/13,1873.

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JOSEPH S. WOOD, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR OFONE-HALF HIS RIGHT TO JOHN J. OARBERRY, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

IM PROVEMENT IN GAS-GENERATORS..

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 138,775, dated May 13, 1873; application filed March 25, 1873.

, To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOSEPH S. WOOD, of 66 Tillary street, Brooklyn, New York, have invented certain Improvements in Generating Hydrogen and Hydrocarbon Gas, of which the following is a specification:

This invention is an improvement on, my patents of April 5, 1870 and July 26, 1870; the same general principle of construction is maintained, but with a superior arrangement and combination of the parts, making the machine simpler and much safer.

The nature of my invention consists in the construction and arrangement of an apparatus having a dilute-acid chamber and a lower gas-generating chamber. The latter has a perforated false bottom for the iron turnings to rest on, and arranged therewith and inside of the gas-generator is a circulating-pipe controlled by a plug or valve, which plug, when removed, permits the dilute acid to circulate from one chamber to the other according to the pressure ofthe gas. This rising and falling of the dilute acid upon the iron filings used to make the hydrogen regulates automatically the quantity of gas made.

Figure 1 is an elevation of my machine, showing one of the gas-generators and the oarbureter in section.

A is a cylindrical wooden vessel having a partition, a', across the middle, so as to divide itinto an upper chamber, B, and a lower chamber, O. Near the bottom of the lower chamber is a perforated plate or false bottom, c', upon which the iron turnin gs are placed. These are inserted into the compartment by removing the water-tight screw-plug d, after which the plug is secured firmly in its place. A pipe, E, connects the upper chamberB with the lower one O. This pipe has its lower outlet below the level of the plate c'. The upper end opens into the acid-chamber B, and is closed by a wooden plug, g, the stem of which rises to the top of the tank B and above the surface of the dilute acid contained therein. This plug or valve g is used while lling the machine, as it enables the operator to judge more accurately of the quantity of liquid required, and affords the opportunity to test the gravity of the liquid. When the machine is charged the plug is withdrawn and carried away as a matter of safety to prevent the pipe E being stopped up. The pipe h isthe outlet for hy- .drogen gas to the carbureterK. The gas,pass

ing to the bottom of the vessel K, bubbles up through the hydrocarbon liquid and passes olf as carbureted hydrogen by the pipe L to the gas-burner. S is the inlet for hydrocarbon, closed by a screw-plug.

It is -not essential that the pipe h should pass up through the chamber B. By raising it, however, considerably above the chamber C the dilute acid is prevented from being forced over into the carbureterK.

The vessel A is open to the air at the top, but covered with a lid, M, removable, so that the tank B can be lled with water and acid, and its temperature and density easily tested.

Two machines, A, are connected by stopcocks pp to one carbureter, so that one machine oan be filled while the other is in use. The refuse liquid is drawn off by the cock R.

The machine operates in this manner: The carbureter having been vdisconnected from the gas-generator by a suitable union in the pipe a, the lid M is removed, the plug g inserted in the pipe, and the chamber O is iilled with iron-turnings and the plug dis securely fastened. The upper tank B is thenlilled with dilute sulphuric acid and the plug g removed. The dilute acid runs down the pipe E and ills the lower chamber, and hydrogen is at once formed, forcin gout the air first; then, as soon as the carbureter is connected to the gas-generator and the pressure of gas is sufficient, the dilute acid is forced again up into the tank B. As the liquid falls in the tank O less gas is made, and the quantity is thus regulated according to the outflow through the pipe h to the carburetor and gas-burners. As soon as the liquid is forced below the plate c no more gas is made, and as the pipe E projects below the plate c the liquid always remains as a seal at its lower end, preventing the exit of hydrogen up the pipe E. p v

I do not claim, broadly, in this patent the communicating passage controlled by a cock or valve between the acid and gas chambers 2. The'circulating-pipe E having its lower termination below the level of the iron-turnv ings contained in the gas-generating chamber and the other termination in the diluteacid chamber, and controlled by a plug or valve therein, substantially as herein described.

JOSEPH S. WOOD.

Witnesses:

BENJ. D. MARGH, GEO. O. SEABOTT. 

